Source:Women Thrive Worldwide Too often, gender is equated with women, but in fact, gender is about people—both women and men. Genderanalysis is a tool that looks at the different roles, rights, responsibilities and resources of women and men andhow they impact a proposed strategy, project or policy. This analysis is critical to the success of all development strategies, from health and education to peace building, agriculture and trade. It ensures that both women and men are built into development strategies up front and that programs target their resources most effectively, instead of making costly fixes after the fact. When gender differences are not addressed, women and girls are most often the ones left behind, even though investments in women yield greater benefits in terms of health and education of children and families.
NGOs and project-implementing agencies consistently note the importance of gender integration to the success of their programs. In fact, the World Bank has noted that projects that incorporated gender goals and actions achieved their overall objectives to a greater degree than similar projects that did not.1
The following are case studies that illustrate how integrating gender into project design and implementation can increase effectiveness of development programs, and in some cases, even transform failed programs into successful ones.